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Review of Power Grid Recharged
Blurb from the publisher: 'The new, revised edition of the popular economic strategy game!
What better way to earn money than with electric power?! But how should you do it? Will you use old-fashioned coal or oil? Maybe you'll be on the forefront of burning garbage. Nuclear power is tempting, as long as you can acquire uranium. You can always be independent of resources if you go the ecological route.
However you decide to generate the energy, you'll have to compete with your opponents not only for the most attractive power plants, but for the necessary resources and the sites to build your network of energy distribution.
You'll need to watch your opponents closely, carefully manage your money, and expand your network thoughtfully in order to generate income. The player that is able to build the largest network and successfully power it will be the winner.
Power Grid: Recharged has all the strategy and fun of the classic first edition, but adds some updates that improve the (already great) gameplay.'
What you get: Your USD 49,95 or equivalent will buy you Power Grid Recharged, a bidding and network-building boardgame that can accommodate from two to six players in just over two hours. The initial Power Grid has already been out since 2004 and has amassed quite a number of nominations and awards. Its current position in BGG's top-40 is rather telling.
In addition to the 12-page Rulebook that can be found on the publisher's website free of charge, the game also contains the following: one double-sided board (Germany and USA), 132 wooden Houses in six colours (22 Houses per player), 84 wooden Resource tokens (24 Coal, 24 Oil, 24 Garbage, 12 Uranium), one Auction Hammer, one Discount token, one Step 2 Barrier, one Game End Barrier, 120 Electro banknotes (in four denominations), and 54 Playing cards (42 Power Plants, one Step 3 Card, 5 Resource Refill Summary Cards, 6 Payment Summary cards).
If you own the previous edition of Power Grid and you are interested in the differences, they are the following: the Auction Hammer, the Resource Refill summary cards, as well as some slightly altered write-ups in the rulebook. As an example, the instructions on how many areas to choose at the beginning of the game depending on the number of players is now much clearer.
Gameplay: The objective of the game is to be the first to connect the number of cities dictated by the number of players (the more the players, the less the cities). Each player starts the game with 50 Electro, while the different resources for the production of electricity are fixed at their starting values. Each round has five phases. The game recommends to play the first game on Germany.
Determine Player Order does exactly that. The player with the most connected cities in the network goes first. In case of a tie, the player with the biggest power plant amongst them goes first.
In Auction Power Plants each player may buy one power plant from the four plants perpetually on offer (the plants that will come up for auction in the next round are also visible one round in advance). The cheapest of them is going to be auctioned off for one Electro only. The first player may then choose a power plant to auction. This is a standard auction, players bidding or passing in turn. If a player passes, he is out for that auction. A player may own up to three power plants. If he buys a fourth, he must scrap one of the previous ones he purchased. Alternatively, a player may decide not to start an auction but to pass the auction, forfeiting the action and staying out of all the auctions for power plants for that round.
Buy Resources sees the players play in reverse order, buying resources for their plants. A player needs as many resources as indicated in a plant in order to operate it, while he can store for the future twice this number. A player can only buy resources for plants that consume these resources, not for plants that he intends to build in the future. The more a resource gets purchased, the higher its price will grow.
In Build Houses players can connect new cities to their network, again in reverse order. The first city can be any the player wishes to; it will set him back 10 Electro. Further cities must be connected to that first city, and the player must pay the cheapest connecting cost available. This will differ, depending on whether he is the first, the second, or the third player to connect there. A player can build as many cities as he wants in his turn. A city can be later connected to two players, but only after a certain time, namely after one player connects a designated number of cities (seven or six, depending on the number of players).
Bureaucracy is a book-keeping phase. First the players earn cash depending on the cities in their network which receive electricity. They then resupply the resource market. Resupply differs depending on the number of players. Finally, the power plant market is updated. The highest numbered plant is always taken away until the third step of the game is reached. At that point, only six power plants will be auctioned, but they will do so simultaneously, without a future market. Also, each city can be now connected to three players instead of two, even though this will be costly.
The two player game rules include the Trust, an AI that blocks cities and snags power plants while consuming resources. Certain rules are slightly altered, yet for most intents and purposes the Trust is a non-competing player that the two players have to also deal with.
Each map plays slightly differently. As an example one can always buy coal in the US map no matter if it is otherwise depleted. That, however, comes at a rather steep price. In Germany nuclear power plants might start lacking fuel from a moment on.
The strong points: Power Grid is a classic, and there are a number of factors that contribute to it. The intensity and excitement of the auction phase is one of them. Many games do bidding well enough; take Kyklades for example, even though the auction system there is different. Well is one thing however, and excellent is another. Not everything is for sale from the very beginning, and the more time passes the better plants come into auction. The goal is not obvious at all: participate in enough auctions in order to drive the stations of the other players up, while getting your station in the most affordable price possible. If that is the station you were gunning for in the first place, even better.
Power Grid plays fantastically the player order/inverse player order shtick. Depending on the situation, it is probably better to go first in an auction even though the most powerful stations haven't come up yet. When it comes to buying fuel however it is hugely beneficial to be last, because you will get to run this action first. The economies can be quite significant while your competitors will have to deal with the incremental price increases.
The game requires a finely balanced approach from the players. You can buy the best plant possible, and as much fuel as you need to power it, yet if you don't have cities connected you won't be able to extract profit out of it. Idem for any other combination where something comes so wildly on top, that you don't have money left for the rest. In reality the game is about brutal efficiency. You don't need to do too much; what you do however has to pay back the soonest possible. Brainburning is to be expected. If you are good in basic arithmetic and accounting even better.
The game has a tactical element in the placement of cities. A player can be cut off before the start of phase two, without any opportunity to expand his network. Be attentive so that this doesn't happen. At times you might need to adjust your machine's overall balance in order to take care of this... or in order for you to cut off somebody else. This isn't a direct confrontation game, yet some indirect shoving and sparring can be expected.
The game's in-built balancing mechanism to avoid runaway leaders is as obvious as it is clever: the player that does better network-wise gets to play first. By definition this means that things will be less appealing and more costly for him: the new power plant, the fuel, and the expansion of his network. One might not like it if he consistently better than his opponents, admittedly however it helps keep the game tight.
Even though the game recommends to start from Germany, I am not certain whether Germany of the USA is supposed to be the main Power Grid map. I however enjoy both of them. This doesn't have to do with theme and aesthetics only. It also has to do with the theme blending with real-life. The US uses coal in a practically cyclical way, while from one point onwards Germany will see its nuclear reactors getting retired, which is what Germany is currently doing. Nice touch.
Power Grid is an extremely easy game to learn or teach. I would feel rather reluctant about characterizing it a gateway game, it is however very likely to be the second game one plays should he get hooked on things like Catan or Ticket to Ride. The turn is obvious, the actions are obvious, the bidding is fairly straightforward; now all you need to do is master your economic survival skills in an ever-changing market. If anything, the game is about adaptation.
The game's production values are excellent. The differences from the original edition are minor component-wise, they are all however for the better. When it comes to the rules, the clarifications are very welcome.
I really like the game's art. My first impression when I first played the original many years back was rather subdued, yet this blend of factory aesthetics, realism and cartoonish iconography works very well. If anything, the game is instantly recognizable a room away; no other game has imitated the style, and very few of them are as distinctive.
Power Grid is one of the best supported games ever. There are different maps (like Benelux/Central Europe, France/Italy, China/Korea etc), new cards, and many more. Just because the base game has been reissued does not mean that these maps are any less playable. The maps come with minor rule changes, as is the case in the base game. We will visit some of them together shortly.
The weak points: The obvious things first: if you already own Power Grid, and it is in a good condition, you really don't need Power Grid Recharged. Download the rules for the welcome clarifications, and you are good to go.
I don't consider Power Grid to be a long game, yet if your opponents face AP issues you might see the game passing the 150 minute mark. Admittedly, that is a lot for what the game does. Depending on whether you want to be mild or drastic, friendly prompts every now and then or a timer can help the game get on track.
Even if you like the game's aesthetics, the board undeniably looks busy. I don't mind this, yet for many people this makes the game more confusing than it really is.
An intense brain-burning game for some might feel like a boring exercise in accounting for others. I can see where that comes from even though I do not agree. Practically all efficiency-oriented games involve calculations by their very nature. I find it neither too much nor unwelcome.
The game's catch-up mechanisms may get out of control at times. You will encounter aberrant gaming behaviours where a player will play to at least partially screw an opponent's deal than promoting his own company's interests. If you thought that Power Grid is a real simulation of the electricity market, it actually isn't.
I wish the box were more sturdy. It is not flimsy, yet it doesn't come out as confident or robust. I always shelve my games vertically and never on top of one another, were I doing that however, I would have avoided putting more games on top o fit. It doesn't look as if it can take it.
Conclusion: Power Grid is a classic game, an iconic odd-sized box to be found in gaming libraries everywhere in the world. If for any quaint reason you didn't have the old edition already, or if it is giving up the spirit due to heavy use, the new, Recharged edition is here to pick up the baton. This is a practical insta-buy for any euro fan.
To find out more Power Grid Recharged and Rio Grande Games take a look at http://riograndegames.com.
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